30 Years After Chernobyl Disaster, an Arch Rises to Seal Melted Reactor

April 25, 2016 2:27 PM

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Massive steel enclosure will cover and contain radioactive innards for at least a century

CHERNOBYL, Ukraine—Enter the Chernobyl zone, and you might expect the worst: Security guards at a checkpoint 19 miles away from the site of the world’s worst nuclear accident scan departing vehicles for signs of radiation, as wolfish strays linger around the checkpoint.

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European wood products made from Ukraine trees will be a hidden issue. You won't know what is making you sick until it is too late.I better avoid chess sets made in Poland. Only the finest ivory chess sets will do.

It's not low level. Underneath all of that concrete is the uranium that used to be in the fuel rods. It was too hot to clean up at the time so they had to bury it in place. If it were to be exposed to the environment today, those original predictions would come true.

that would make sense, but I wonder just how dangerous this low level radioactive material is. Especially considering the initial estimates of the effects of the radiation compared to the findings in the UN study.

Can't speak for other countries, but the ones in the US can withstand terrorism. NEI did a study of that in the wake of 9/11, a summary of which was released to the public. The NRC also did a study, the results of which were classified for the obvious reasons of not telling potential enemies what our defenses are.

In the US nuclear is dead, coal is almost dead, and oil & gas are dying. That leaves renewables which cannot possibly power the country. Does anyone else foresee an epic energy crisis coming in 5+ years?

/ I believe it's to protect against radioactive dust plumes arising when the original structure fails and starts to drop concrete chunks into the old reactor building. These dust plumes carry radioactive particles for miles and miles ...

Because people are scared of the of uranium fission. The fear of nuclear power is now traditional. The memories of the cold wars scary images, and some terrible accidents. It will be generations before the sour taste of the past is erased

The entire uranium mining industry is responsible for 371 fatalities over 50 years. Chernobyl is directly and indirectly responsible for 4,000, or just 1% of what China suffers each year in the coal industry.

First, it is in the middle of a flat field, one mile square with barbed wire. There is only one entrance with solid concrete barriers and armed guards. Past that, you go through another gate with a turnstyle and camera and then pass between concrete tank barriers. Outside are

Actually, the Soviets don't have responsibility for the Chernobyl disaster. The tests run by the local operators to implement a revised safety procedure, of all things, was not authorized by the Soviet regulatory agency and would have been rejected if that authority had been sought.